No rest indeed. Shadows leaped through the hole, dashing towards Liron and Angin. They had to run through nearly half the city, but no human legs carried them. Breed for the wild, fighting and surviving against the odds, they would be upon them. And by what Liron had seen, no house would be safe from them. They would rip through them for the chance to taste his cries.
"FUCK!" both Angin and Liron screamed.
The Alchemist had lost all composure, pulling at his messy hair. A warrior, he was. But how many warriors had had a day like this? Everyone had their limits, and Angin had met his. He looked around him, desperate to find the answer to their problems.
"Fuck!" Angin said. "I can't believe it! This is bollocks! I hate this shit so much!"
"Shit…" Liron said, pondering the word.
The wolves would reach them inside all buildings and above. The weakest of the pack would easily jump on the roof with fangs bared. So, what place could they not reach?
When Liron went to the bathroom for the first time in Kupferrang, Angin had explained where his… excretions went.
"The sew… fuck, this thing where our shit and piss goes to," Liron said.
Angin stared at him. "The fuck are you babbling about?"
"We have to go underground! To the… ah, the sewerage! You said they're like tunnels under the city! That's where we have to go."
Impressed and disgusted at once, Angin nodded. The thought of soiling himself in the soil of others insulted him to the very core. But his appearance wasn't one to be proud of. He could smell the part then, too.
Angin pulled out his map. Crumpled and torn at the edges, the piece of paper had survived more than most. "I think…" Angin said, scanning the map. "There should be an opening nearby."
He tugged in the map and ran down the staircase, Liron closer behind than the Alchemist's own shadow. They leaped down their way, bursting out of Gabriella's house. All grace and pride abandoned, they sprinted with their fear embraced. Kupferrang was silent except the distant celebrations of the Hunters, no sign of the wolves. Yet.
"What…," Liron said between breaths. "What did you… mean it should… be nearby?"
"Pierre didn't write in the openings to the bloody sewerage!" Angin said. "There should be a way in at all the busy spots! More things… to go wrong."
As they had walked throughout Kupferrang, they had come across the iron plates sealing the holes into the sewerage. They knew what they were looking for, at least.
The cold wind slapped them across their faces. Their muscles strained, aching after they had endured so much already. Liron's exhaustion tingled at the edges of his perception. It waited for its moment to strike, an ambush he knew was coming but could do nothing against. The smell of burnt flesh and dust lay heavy in the air, a bonfire close by. They could have run through it; the Hunters wouldn't have cared. Their celebrations had taken on the utmost importance to them. For tonight at least.
The wolves got closer. The echo of destruction closed up on Angin and Liron. In their dash, the beast crashed through buildings. Whenever another sound erupted from behind them, the wolves had gained on them.
"There!" Angin laughed, pointing at an iron plate lying on the street.
Both shared a joyful cry, reaching the plate. Drom's face was carved in it, a raven covered in shit. The Empire had its moments of humor. Liron appreciated this.
It took both of them to drag the plate away from the hole. It had grips hammered into it, meant for specific tools to open it. Angin and Liron lacked those, having to use their fingers. Their faces turned red, but they succeeded, groaning all throughout. Pitch dark, a ladder leading towards a lovely stench, punching tears into their eyes as it climbed to them.
Cries reached them. A dozen Hunters came running from behind a corner, wolves on their heels. These walking maws devoured them all, leaving no trace of them. One of them ignored the easy prey, shooting towards Liron. It had only three eyes, one on the left side and the one in the middle closed shut forever. Its snarl contained a plethora of fangs, all expressing its desire for his life and his life only.
Caution forgotten, Angin and Liron jumped down the hole, holding on to the ladder to slow down. The wolf's snout came crashing down above them. The beast raged, howling as it scratched its paws on the hole, trying to increase it.
Angin and Liron snorted a laugh as they watched the wolf's vain attempts to reach them. The sewerage wasn't as dark as expected. Similar to the ones in Lichtwald, moss and mushrooms grew at the walls, covering larger sections. They lacked the intensity and beauty of the ones in the forest Liron had loved. Their shine was dimmer, a light blue unseen from above. But once entering the tunnels, they shone fiercely, lighting their surroundings.
The sight wasn't something worth seeing. The sewerage was massive, tunnels big enough for the wolves to move inside. Not with the same ferocious abundance, though. They would hit their head on the ceiling should they not lower it. Pipes run down the tunnel's side, going in and out of the walls. The stone blocks used for crafting the sewerage had felt no true care in years. They were built for decades, but time had marked them, revealing their age for all to witness.
The ladder had led onto a sidewalk. The tunnel had one at each side, a river of sewage between them. While they didn't have to step into the wastewater, they had to endure the stench. Both held their noses, grimacing at the strength of the smell.
"Come on," Angin said, nudging them forward. "We need to stay moving."
Liron moaned as he had to run again. As he caught up with Angin, they heard the wolves above, following them, searching for a way in. "Ah, fuck," Liron said, realizing why the Alchemist forced them to continue. "Kasper can enter the sewerage. He just needs to follow the wolves and then enter."
Angin nodded. "Good, Liron. Smart plan. Probably came from Anna. But it's flawed. The wolves can only follow us thanks to our smell. But that won't work anymore for too long."
The stench had an advantage after all. It made it easier breathing it in as they dashed forward, the air tasting foul. The beasts above never let go of them. Their drive wasn't rewarded, as the wolves struggled to keep track of them. Angin guided the two of them, choosing at random which turn to take. The wolves often took the wrong one, noticing their mistake, and hurrying after them. With each mistake, it took them longer to realize. The best nose in all of Ekon lost to an abundance of shit and piss.
Liron giggled at that.
But it died as soon as the ceiling behind them caved in. Angin and Liron looked behind, not stopping. A figure standing at the edge, shooting away on a board. Kasper had guessed their strategy and put a stop to it.
The three-eyed wolf pressed its head into the opening. It growled, raging. But its size and strength prevented it from entering. It refused to accept this, though, throwing around its head and shoulder, getting stuck. All attempts to enlarge the hole fell on dry ground, no fruits growing from its efforts.
Channeling the very wind itself into their legs, Angin and Liron cut through the shitty air. They knew what was to come.
Kasper blasted two more holes into the sewerage, both twice as large as the first one. Three wolves leaped down. Their paws sank deep into the wastewater, but their instincts took the reign. They knew no indignity, hunting after their prey through the excrement. Similar to their leader, their mass proved a disadvantage. The tunnels weren't made for them. They had to lower themselves, squeezing themselves short. Neither of them could run at their top speed, but these beasts could race down a deer. Even handicapped, they would catch up to two humans.
The sewerage dulled their sharpest weapon, too. Their numbers. Two could fit alongside one another, but then they would only crawl. They pursued Angin and Liron in a queue, the heads of the two wolves in the back lurking out from behind the one at the top. Howling in unison, they stomped towards their revenge.
Angin pulled out a blinding grenade, throwing it behind them. Liron kept his head forward, a flash bringing daylight to the sewerage. The wolves cried out, but they didn't stop. Blinded, they followed their noses. Being this close, they would find their smell even buried into layers of shit and piss.
But they were still blinded. Angin pulled out his blasting rod in his left hand and his staff in his right. He shot a fireball at the wolf, swinging around his staff. Liron summoned his knife, transforming it into his black blade. He swung his blade, shooting a smoke sickle at his enemies. An awkward motion, performing a hau at something behind him while keeping up his pace. Lance never taught him such a move. He had to improvise, only using one arm to perform this flawed beauty.
What he had practiced was his newest spell. Never at the scale he had wanted, only tiny ones to not cause any attention from a suspicious eye. In the matter of two days, he had improved. The strain, as before, was missing, his spell carrying his hau forward, becoming a thing separate from his sword. The sickle contained his blade's edge, too, slashing into the wolf's snout at the front. Followed by the fire burning his head, the beast yelped, not knowing what had happened.
Offering no time to readjust, Angin and Liron continued their barrage, fire and smoke striking the wolf's head. No hate could endure such pain, and the beast stumbled over its legs, slamming itself into the wastewater. Its head was covered in deep cuts and burns. The sewage had extinguished the fire. In the assault, it had lost all its eyes, either scorched black or slashed away.
Its brethren had no pity to spare. They stomped on its back, pressing it deeper into the wastewater. They discarded their reason, running next to one another, pressing and shoving the other into the tunnel's walls. This enraged both, fueling their savage wrath, driving them forward.
Angin's staff had built up momentum, the sphere at the head vibrating. Putting away his rod, he got three bombs out, hurling them behind. As they left his hands, he unleashed energy created in his staff in an upward swing. The shockwave flung them at the ceiling hard, focusing the resulting explosion in the same direction. Without the orb's strange power, the bombs wouldn't have penetrated the stone, but combined, they did suffice.
The ceiling collapsed, burying one wolf in the debris. It howled one last time, the stone crushing its back. Liron could hear its spine snapping, blood erupting from its maw. A grizzly end, but one the last beast had avoided. With its comrade gone, it could accelerate. Before Angin and Liron could strike at the wolf, it reached them.
Liron turned, wanting to hit it with a hau, but it bit down on his left arm, tearing him off the ground. It hammered Angin into the wall, the stone behind him cracking. Pain numbed, it still flared Liron from the inside. The wolf carried him forward, fangs having crushed his arm. He knew his bone to be shattered, his skin and muscles tearing. But instead of ripping the arm off him or devouring him whole, the wolf ran forward, taking a hard turn. It carried him somewhere. Its leader had then claimed the right to perform the kill, and this one was keen to fulfill the three-eyed's desire. But how was such a beast supposed to find a way to escape the sewerage? It took several turns, following a path leading away from the holes it had entered through. It must have found a scent it wanted to see the origin of.
Grinding his teeth, he let his Conduit in his left hand vanish. He summoned his knife in right and stabbed it into the wolf's snout. He hammered the blade into the soft flesh. Liron twisted the knife before tearing it out. Tears formed in the wolf's eyes, but it endured. A whine echoed in its maw, but it kept its muzzle shut.
Blood poured out of the nose and on Liron, leaving behind a clear track for all to follow. Growing desperate, Liron shot his knife forward, taking out two eyes on the wolf's left side and the one on its forehead. This one shook the beast. It stumbled, hitting the walls. Loyalty alone kept it upright, continuing its dash. From his position, Liron couldn't take out the two remaining ones.
Perhaps he could sever its paws with a smoke sickle, but Liron had a better idea. A crueler one. But in times like these, he had to respond in kind. One could only learn from his mistakes if he was punished accordingly. And certain punishments would be lethal.
Liron summoned his Conduit in his left hand. He couldn't feel his fingers, much less move them. But with his arm shattered, his hand had frozen into the grip to hold the handle of his blade, a fist empty. The knife appeared in it again. Liron had yet to truly choose a path for his Conduit. He still had the freedom other Wizards lacked.
Pure smoke erupted from his knife, rushing down the wolf's maw. This made the beast suffer. It staggered, shaking as more and more smoke filled its inside. It suffered, but it wasn't enough.
These foul things had attacked and had haunted him for weeks. All for the grievances it and its pack had brought onto themselves. Liron remembered all the men who had died that day. He remembered Dieter, his only friend, perishing because he had protected him. After taking and taking, they had dared to demand retribution for Liron fighting back? The beasts and the Empire wanted him on the ground. They wanted him to take their violence without resistance.
But he had endured enough. He made a promise, and he would not be proven a liar. As his rage built up inside his chest, his embers appeared alongside it. A dormant fire, waiting for something to devour. So it could rise to life again and burn as hot as the sun itself. Only then, once its flames had torched the sky itself, might it be satisfied. How had he not noticed until now? They had always scorched the air around him once the monster inside awoke. A faint hiss, swallowed by a gust of wind. But they were there, begging for his attention.
The trapped smoke inside the wolf reacted to the embers around the knife. Liron had always viewed both of them as separate things. That was his mistake. They could function on their own, each offering their potential. But they were meant to be together. Only when fused into one did they reveal their true capabilities.
Liron drove the embers forward, deep into the smoke. The dark clouds inside ignited upon being reunited with their lost brother, and the wolf exploded from the inside. Flames tore through the beast, pillars of fire punching through muscle, skin, and fur. Its very skeleton was reduced to ashes, only shreds of its exterior remaining. The blast broke the wolf's muzzle wide open, hurling Liron into the river of sewage. The remnants of the wolf splashed against the walls and ceiling, burnt to it. Parts of its head and back swam next to Liron, smoke rising from it.
Liron blinked, dizzy. What had just happened? The explosion had scorched his clothing, but it hadn't harmed him otherwise. He was covered in human and wolf blood, ash, and wastewater. Liron's eyes grew wide, looking down at his arm. Hanging on to him by shreds, shattered bone having punctuated his skin, it was a sorry sight. The knife was still in his lifeless fingers. The sewage had soaked his arm, entering his system through his gory wound.
Liron was no healer, but he knew of infections and the death they brought. Excrement rubbed into an injury marked the limb as doomed. No blessing could save it anymore. Liron had to bid farewell to his arm or die from the consequences.
But the infection had yet to show itself. Liron crawled onto the sidewalk, collapsing onto his back. What a shitty day. Liron chuckled at that. He looked at the ceiling, waiting for whoever to find him first. With his arm like this, having lost a significant amount of blood, he could do little to defend himself. His head spun, overheating like a forge forced beyond its limits. As with the creation of his sickle, casting this new spell drained Liron. Lying here helped, calming his exhausted nerves.
A minute or two passed, and the Alchemist came into view, hurrying towards him. As he saw Liron move, Angin let out a sigh of relief. He slowed down as he saw what had remained of the wolf, pieces of crispy flesh falling down.
"Liron, my boy," he said, "seems like you figured out your Cond… oh, fuck!"
Angin went on his knees, examining Liron's arm. He grimaced, a glance enough to tell him everything. "Liron… this is bad. Your arm will…
"I know," Liron groaned, sitting up. "We'll have to get rid of it. But Kasper and the wolves are still on our asses. Can you repair the arm? I might need it before we can get a new one."
Angin nodded, operating on Liron's arm. He had restocked his golden flakes in Gabriella's house. "I don't think we have to fear the wolves for tonight at least."
"What do you mean? They want my head. Now's the chance to do so."
"Yeah, but they also want to eat. They will come for you, but Kupferrang is filled with easy prey. If they were still hunting you, the rest of the pack would be in the sewerage already. Their leader, he wants your ass, but he's a smart one. He won't come alone. The rest of the pack probably wants to hunt the people of Kupferrang, and he's forced to join them."
Angin never looked up, resetting the bone shards. Liron winced, closing his eyes. "Impressive, by the way," Angin said. "I heard that explosion. You find a usage for the embers, I take it."
Liron nodded, "Smoke and ember go well together. Just needed to figure out how. But… what I don't get… where was the wolf carrying me."
Angin finished his work, sealing shut the arm. Liron moved it around, flexing his fingers. It felt weird. Numb.
"Should hold up until tomorrow," Angin said. "I have shut off all pain and feeling in it. Won't feel like your arm because it isn't anymore. That thing is infected by Solia knows what. Once we're safe, we'll replace it."
His arm, spoken about like a broken tool. It had accompanied him for fourteen years, and he thanked it for its service like it was an afterthought.
Angin pointed behind Liron. "And to answer your question, I'm pretty sure it wanted to get you there."
Liron turned around, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, brighter than the soft blue around them. As both examined what could await them there, the ceiling behind them tore apart. Angin had said he had heard his explosion. Apparently, he wasn't the only one.
Kasper Lockram and Anna Bauer descended. Two angels of death coming for their heads. They landed right in the sewage. Kasper whined immediately, climbing on top of a piece of debris. Anna did not care, her attention focused on Angin and Liron. Kasper bared his teeth. "I have grown tired of you, Ravenspawn. My hunt ends tonight."